Shaam!

Stuck in a loop in my head!! a wonderfully lilting melody

Agony

the wait's killing me..... yes/no, yes/no, yes/no... and no it's not about a girl!!

-shri

Words Galore!!

I love long-form articles. Pieces that run over multiple pages, ones that show the journalist has put in the grunt work. I love to think that he has agonized over finding the right words, the right tone and fought to maintain consistency over the entire piece. I can even forgive opinion(ated) pieces if the clarity of the author's conviction manages to shine through. And I am happy knowing that people do have something to say beyond the 140 character blurbs that dominate news cycles. And most importantly I adore the fact that it makes me want to write. Today I managed to stumble upon a treasure trove of such material. I happened to hear about Instapaper and stumbled over to their website, the aptly named givemesomethingtoread.com. They maintain an archive of Editor's Picks of writing from across the web, which for the most part is absolutely great writing. Just spent half a day at work of all places reading through some of them. Do head over and give it a try. I promise you won't be disappointed. For those with ADD and those who believe it's not worth your while, there is always the next tweet from Kanye West to look forward to!!

-Shri

Kozhukattais, Kanjeevarams and Karting!!!

Today, after what seemed like ages, set foot in a temple. Three of us drove over to Livermore after a blissful lunch involving kozhukattais at S Bhavan. The stereo system was churning out Rahman's numbers from the 90's and we were involved in a discussion about the subversive eroticism (perhaps subversive is not the right word, too much of a negative connotation) that's very common in Tamil lyrics. Conversation that was benign from my perspective but would have made my grand-pa ask god to redeem my soul. Anyways, we arrive at the temple and are greeted by quite the crowd dressed in it's resplendent best. Men in pattu veshtis and sherwanis and the women flaunting their kanjeevarams and salwars reminding me of all the obligatory social occasions I was dragged to back home. Turned nostalgic for a bit and felt a calm descend on me. My belief systems preclude the possibility of god, so it set me off thinking about why temples had such an effect. Was it the memories from many summers past as a kid of the umpteen visits to the thousand gods, the thrilling myths and legends that morph into history, the sounds, the smells, the proud grandpas and the doting grandmoms, the food and the familiar tug of mum's voice making sure you didn't go off making chums with the monkeys and squirrels in the trees. Whatever the reason was, I did appreciate the time there. The day ended with a session at a local kart track. Modesty aside, did splendidly well and burnt quite a bit of rubber. Was a great end to a week that brought wonderful news about 2 of my friends getting engaged. And I still have a concert lined up for tommorrow and a book to finish :). And regarding the kanjeevarams, realized that i am still a sucker for a woman in a well draped saree. Sigh!!!!

-shri

Rings True!!!

via The Daily Dish.

"With every day that passes, I am more convinced that the act of writing is a conscious act of humility."

That explains why i feel like i am scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

-shri

Visual Poetry

Paradox of Choice

Came across this while trolling through the TED comments section on a talk about choice and am sure it's true of the most of us, for value is relative...

dad to two sons: Boys, i have got you christmas gifts and I haven't decided who gets what. Since John is the younger of the two, i will let him pick first and then Mark can take what's left.

John: i will have whatever Mark's picking!!!

and in that one smartass line, i believe, is the reduction of every man's motivation to do what he does... to have what the next guy has!!!!!!!!!!!

-shri